Blockchain Sports Betting

Last Modified on 1/1/1900

Blockchain betting is around the corner. Isn't it?

This year online gambling will surely surpass the 50$ billion threshold if it has been one to start with. Super-Data Research states that every year mobile gambling is increasing by 75% or this means that at the end of 2018 we will have ¾ more gambling accounts used through a mobile phone. So until 2020 around 60% of any gambling whatsoever will be conducted on a mobile device. Any time, any place, by anyone.

The big question here is the industry ready for this ever-growing tidal wave? Two years ago it was certainly not but today blockchain gambling is answering the hard questions of scalability, safety, transparency, trustworthiness and most importantly fairness and zero-house edge. With this piece we will try to examine and evaluate the key selling points of blockchain for the gambling industry. We are encompassing sports betting, online casinos and everything in between.

So let's build our blocks of arguments

Transparency

There is an estimation that 1.4 million fake websites are created every month (we know! that's 46 666 sites per days). This easily means that every good and successful online gambling site has a rip-off spoof that tries to attract and scam unsuspecting players. We can all agree that when betting online you have to trust your site, you have to know that your data is safe. The current situation for most working gambling sites is that anyone wanting to gamble has to pass a “Is this really you?” exam before placing a bet. While on blockchain gambling sites will be transparent, meaning that every transaction will be visible and immutable thanks to the permanent record of it on the block. Also there won't be a need for you to verify countless times that these are your money because all you will ever need is your public key to your crypto wallet. As simple as that.

Security

The last couple of years were defining for the web security and not in a good way. Many of us witnessed and experienced personal information leakage and theft. Of course when it comes to your money all websites will tell you that they have you covered, that their security protocols are stone hard walls and there isn't anything to worry about. While this could be true for some of the site, it's not going to last forever because as with security, hackers also develop and improve their trade. So basically the reality of security is a constant race between security protocols and malwares. But this can change and it will. With blockchain a third party won't be needed to secure your information and money, an intermediary wont hold your winnings. Because of the decentralization there is no potential threat from hacking because any blockchain runs on numerous nods (miners, POS wallets or masternodes) simultaneously which means that for a hacker there isn't just one target to attack.

Reviews and feedback

Trust cannot be forged in a day but with customers` reviews and references the time has started to shorten. Blockchain is a decentralized system through which any two parties can engage in an anonymous and transparent value exchange. But on top of this blockchain there is a system of information that is recorded in every block, immutable, untamperable information. In 2017 every 3th purchase has been done thanks to a review that the customer has read so considering this, the amount of websites per month and the overall rise of the industry, a technology that ensures every review is genuine will be necessary. The unalterable open ledger of blockchain will provide exactly this.

Access

The world surely likes to gamble, but today only in 83 countries gambling can be conducted freely. And even in these 83, regulations can be very severe and wildly different from one country to another. With decentralization and anonymity of the cryptocurrencies anyone from anywhere can gamble without stress only with an internet connection.

Trends and disruption

We can`t just oversee the fact that new technologies will create new types of audiences. Gambling site are welcoming more and more Millennials and are just starting to service Gen Z. Rico Jeffery Garia, Tribal Entrepreneur, puts it like this:

“To put it frankly, for our industry to continue to thrive, we must adopt more ways that allow Millennials and Gen Z to transact, not just “gamble”. Sometimes I think we get overly focused on trying to find ways to get our customers to stay on the casino floor or the URL, where we should try to understand more fully our main business function - we are a transaction business, and there are many different types of transactions in our operations and within the transactions themselves.”

So online and brick and mortar casinos have to look at who is going to use them in a short period of five years because that someone will be different and will have different expectations.

Price of service

We definitely have to address price of service when it comes to online gambling because there is huge variations of odds, different cash out fees, obscure additional taxes. And this is fine when you imagine that behind every big and working betting site there are hundreds of employees working to maintain, develop and protect, also these high trafficked sites need huge servers, additional cloud based services and so on. Now on the other hand betting sites running on the blockchain can benefit significantly when it comes to security, traffic and maintenance. Firstly, there won't be a need for vast amount of employees because most of the tasks are automated by the immutable protocols of escrow or smart contract (they are the same thing just on different blockchains). Secondly, no pricy and vulnerable servers because everything is on everyone's nods. Lastly no firewalls needed again because there isn't one, sole server that can be breached.

Conclusion

There are many industries where ICOs, start-ups and cryptocurrencies are implementing the blockchain technology in various ways. We still are at the doorstep of this novelty technology, but one things is sure - just as the Internet gave birth to enormous amount of business so will the blockchain. And as we witnessed how the world wide web transformed gambling into one of the biggest industries today we can`t wait to see how genuine blockchain betting will look and feel like.